Colorado: Spring Break 2016

Disclosure: long post with loads of pictures!

Spring Break 2016 took us to Colorado. We've never actually been able to get away during spring break, so this was a real treat. Ryan's work typically doesn't allow us to travel spring break week, but this year, it happened to line up perfectly. Nearly every family member or friend asked us "why Colorado?". The fastest answer was "cheap (short) flights", but the longer answer can be seen in the (many) pictures below. It is one of the most beautiful places to visit. The natural beauty is breathtaking, something that pictures just don't do justice. Along with the fact that Ryan's most favorite brewery is located in Colorado, coupled with the fact that only I had been there, made it a great spot for our family spring break trip.

We hit the ground running when our flight landed. I'm not an "all-inclusive" kind of traveler. Maybe someday, but not at this point in my life. I love to sight-see and move around and take in all the world has to offer. I had our days pretty fully packed, and we started off with Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs.

It was a perfect way to spend the "golden hour" of the sunset as we hiked around and climbed on a few rocks. As we drove up, it was one of those "oh my!, look over there!, wow, look at that!" over and over. Even the kiddos were mesmerized!

I joked that we should've bought a selfie-stick for our trip, which the kids quickly dismissed. My parents had given me a gorilla-pod tripod for my big camera which worked great on this trip, but sometimes I used my cell phone and a selfie-stick would've been great!

That evening we drove into downtown Colorado Springs the check out the area, find dinner and eventually (after 8pm!) make it to our hotel. We landed at the most wonderful burger joint: Bingo Burger for dinner and everyone was very pleased to sit down and fill our bellies. Ryan then opted to stop at a liquor store where we had to lock the doors and pray we wouldn't get mugged while he was in the store. There had to be a dozen liquor stores in the area and we pick the one in the worst neighborhood.

The following morning, we drove to nearby Manitou Springs to take the Cog Railway up Pikes Peak. The idea behind this adventure was to make it to the top of the mountain (14,000 feet above sea level) without having to drive ourselves....and let's just say it was a pretty good idea because I'm not sure either of us would've survived the drive. Side note: Ryan and I quickly learned that in Colorado, they don't post population signs as you enter a city, they post elevation.

It was a long trek up and down the mountain, and we had to keep ourselves entertained because eventually, the beauty is not enough for the kids. Lincoln opted to pretend sleep while standing up so he could have his nuk....and I'm a sucker for that little boy.

Once we were part way back down, the allowed us a break off the train to stretch our legs and explore. We ventured into a clearing and found some massive boulders to climb around and use as a beautiful back drop.

See those mountains in the background? I could've taken pictures of the area all day long. I kept setting up the gorilla pod and herding our crew for another picture. They were troopers though and obliged knowing just how beautiful the background would be.

Lincoln stayed pretty close to me as we walked around and perfected his fake CHEESE smile, pretty annoying. He was growing tired and likely hungry but he hung in there for me. The entire trip, that little boy did amazingly well without a nap, constant on the go and making it to the potty every single time. So very proud of how well he traveled. His manners are out of this world, he says "bless you" for every noise you make. At one point on our trip, I climbed into bed next to him and sneezed. In his deep sleep he said "bless you"! I couldn't believe my ears and sat up to be sure he really was sleeping. What a honey!  

I'm a little sad that this picture was taken on my phone as opposed to my camera. You can see the mountains in the background, which is where the train took us to (holy buckets was it not only beautiful, but super cold!) and sadly, too dangerous to get out at the summit and explore.

Although we went on this adventure early in our trip, Lincoln talked about the Choo-Choo train every single day! He adored the time on the train and begged us to go back again!

After lunch at a place called Oliver's Deli (another awesome find thanks to Yelp) we drove up to the Air Force Academy to explore the cadet chapel. On the drive, Ryan rolled his eyes and said "Liz, you're taking us to a church?". He had no idea what he was about to see. On the walk from the parking to the chapel, we had to pause for these most precious views. I just couldn't get enough. The mountains are massive, and the miles of evergreens are endless.

Then we came upon the chapel. The tallest, most beautiful chapel I have ever seen. Both inside and out, it is spectacular. At this point, my family was still unimpressed. The Air Force Cadet chapel is a place I remember seeing so many years ago on my first trip to Colorado, it made quite the impression in my mind. And I couldn't wait to get my family inside.

And once inside, everyones attitude changed.

In one instant.

It was pretty incredible. Ryan's jaw nearly dropped and the girls' breath was taken away. It's hard to explain just how large this place is. The organ, pictured below, is probably 2 stories itself. I only wish we could've heard it being played.

This cross hangs above the alter. So pretty.

This picture of the kiddos in the forefront might give you a better idea of just how big this place is. At the end of our trip, Regan said that this stop was one of her most favorite things to see. And that right there, made it worth my while to add it into our itinerary.

Below the main chapel, we toured the smaller chapels (Catholic, Buddhist and Jewish) all which were beautiful in their own aspects, but not like the main chapel. Nothing beats the main chapel in my eyes.

From there we headed back to Denver where we would call 'home base' for the following few days. We had a little snafu with the hotel that we booked, as they never alerted us to their pool being closed. Wowzas, deal breaker. So the front desk supervisor worked his magic and got us another Embassy Suites just down the road, and we lucked out because the new one was much nicer.

Ryan did most of the driving, and me the navigating throughout this trip. Early on, as he nearly rear-ended a car and later slammed on the brakes at a stop light I declared we were all going to die from his driving! With my hands over my eyes, the kids laughed in the backseat at my over-dramatic self begging him to keep us alive.

We did a little switch-around for the remaining days, following a check of the weather. It was apparent that Denver was bracing itself for a major snow storm (more on that later), so we took advantage of a gorgeous day and drove up the Fort Collins. First up: a city playground!

It was a gorgeous morning and the kids were so excited to be playing around and screaming in delight. They climbed and slid and jumped and ran to their hearts content.

Fort Collins is a total college town and home to more breweries than I can count (really, they're on every street corner it seems!). So after lunch at Pita Pit (gosh we picked some winners while we were out there), we dropped off Ryan at O'dell for a tour and tasting. He was in beer heaven.

The kids and I decided not to venture far, but instead parked downtown and we explored Main Street, which is a lot of fun shops, restaurants, candy stores and even toy stores. We found a few sculptures along the way and had to pose for some photos. The kids spent their travel money on toys and candy and had a wonderful time.  

This piano is out in the open, for all to enjoy. Sidney played on that thing for a very long time and I sat nearby, watching Lincoln dance and letting the warm sun hit my face. It really was a perfect afternoon and I sort of fell in love with Fort Collins.

After a stop to pick up Ryan (while he was in the midst of dealing with the bank who had put a hold on his credit card thinking it was stolen due to all the out of state purchases), we started making our way to Estes Park. Our family has declared Estes Park one of the most beautiful places on earth. Seriously, you need to go there. I had to do the driving on this leg (remember, Ryan was just at a brewery). And I joked that the only driving I did in Colorado was on the most narrow road in a valley of mountains. The signs warning us to "watch for falling rocks" and the 25 mph curves were enough to turn our leisure drive into a white knuckle ride for me. Ryan on the other hand, was in scenic overload taking it all in.

Estes Park is surrounded on 3 sides by Rocky Mountain National Park. And the purpose of our time there was to take in the park with a family-friendly hike. We located Lily Lake which is an easy hike only about a mile long. We took our time and soaked in another "golden hour" moment.

My gorilla pod was hard at work, and it did not disappoint. We let the kids climb up on rocks and into the woods a little. Ryan joked that this is the type of area where people become a part of the show "I Shouldn't Be Alive".

Hands down, this place was one of our favorites. Had we given ourselves more time on our trip, we would've stayed another day so as to explore another part of the incredible National Park. (And Sidney is not playing on that ipod in the picture, but rather brought it everywhere we went so she too could take pictures).Funny side story on Sidney: she has sleep issues since birth and when we travel, they come out in full force. One night, she sat up straight in bed and raced into the bathroom. I thought maybe she needed to pee but I followed her just in case. She stood in the middle of the bathroom staring at me. I urged her out into the living room where she sat on the couch. Ryan's eyeballs were the size of golf balls watching this scene unfold. I asked him repeatedly to video tape her because I was laughing so hard but he was too stunned to move. Sidney sat on the couch and answered all of my questions in her most matter of fact, totally wide awake answer. "Sidney are you tired?" "Yea mom, I'm really tired".
Only she wasn't really awake. She has no recollection of the entire event!  Thankfully I was able to coax her back into bed and she stayed there the rest of the night.

Although it was snow covered and chilly, it wasn't all that cold. Sidney tried to ditch her sweatshirt jacket claiming to be too hot, but we squashed that idea quickly. The sun was warm, but it certainly wasn't hot.

I think our short 1 mile hike probably took close to an hour with all of our pictures, stops, climbs onto rocks and time spent taking in the beauty.

Ryan found this log and decided it was a good idea to try walking (log rolling style) from end to end. Well, monkey see monkey do in this family and the girls were quick to follow suit.

Ryan and the kids found rocks and tossed them into the lake, realizing quickly that the ice was no longer very thick and definitely unsafe to walk on. It was a good lesson in ice safety because Sidney was insistent that we could walk out on the ice without problem.

The sun started moving across and we knew we should probably start heading out so we wrapped up our hike and headed back to Denver for a wonderful meal at Highland Tavern (a Diners, Drive Ins and Dives feature that Ryan just had to try).

The next morning, we woke up to this. And by that I mean, a blizzard. A full-blown Denver Colorado blizzard with 2 feet of snow dumped on us and 50 mph winds making it impossible to see my hand in front of my face at times. I had planned to tour a rehabilitation hospital nearby (for work), but after clearing off the car and then having to redo the first side again, I made it only 4 blocks before turning around. It was impossible to see anything and just unsafe. There would have been no way for us to make it up to Estes Park like we had originally planned; and we thanked our lucky stars that we had flip flopped days. The highways eventually closed as well.

I picked up the family and we headed to the Downtown Aquarium where we realized there were dozens upon dozens of stuck cars and many more in the ditch. The whole reason we were going was for Sidney to see the mermaids ("mom, real live mermaids!") but sadly, those mermaids got stuck in the snowstorm themselves :( It nearly ruined her trip and she is still upset because she didn't get to see mermaids.

There were all sorts of crazy fish, shark, salt and fresh water fish to keep us entertained as we made our way through the aquarium.

Lincoln raced from tank to tank pointing out all that he could see. He was in little boy heaven!

Sting rays are always my favorite when we go through a tunnel because they always look like they're smiling! I love those sweet things.

These domes provided some fun entertainment, the kids swore they were inside the tanks right along the fish.

Every aquarium we have ever visited (and we've been to them coast to coast and in the Midwest), my favorite has to be the jelly fish. They are so pretty and graceful when they swim and I could watch them far longer than the rest of my family.

Sidney and Regan took some time at the touch tank feeling the sting ray. Although I like their smiles, I don't trust those things and recalled a time when my brother had his hand in a touch tank without paying much attention and a ray came up and scared the bejeezes out of him :) I'll stay behind the camera while everyone else has their hands in those tanks.

With every restaurant in the city closed as well as the Denver International Airport, I knew we were in for a treat. We spent the afternoon at the hotel swimming and keeping ourselves happy in the room. At one point, I was standing by the window, with Lincoln teetering, my hands near the cold window. Lincoln was pointing out all of the stranded cars, buses and then lifted up his shirt and hollered out "hey bool bus, watch" and did a little truffle shuffle!!

I called 18 restaurants, and even attempted dinner at Mc Donald's before giving up. We ended up feeding the girls gas station nachos and Lincoln leftover cheeseless pizza. Stellar parenting moment.

The next morning was our departure day....along with a million other people in the state.

Although the airport was a complete nightmare (2+ hour lines just to drop off our 1 checked bag) and a race through security to make it to our gate just in time, we eventually made it on board. I discovered that not only did I lose my voice at the airport, but also my ID! Without time to go back and retrace my steps, we were on our way home!!

It was a lovely spring break, despite a few bumps in the trip, we all had a great time and are thankful for the experience and together time!